This invention relates to digital loop carrier (DLC) technology and in particular to techniques for cross-connecting ATM and TDM networks having subscriber terminations and network terminations. More particularly, the invention relates to ATM/TDM cross-connection techniques in a particular class of networks employing a plurality of multi-service digital local loop switching systems, such as B-32 switches manufactured by Fibex Systems of Petaluma, Calif.
Time division Multiplex (TDM) traffic can be carried in Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) in certain portions of a standard transport network. Heretofore, routing such traffic has required that the TDM traffic datagrams be routed at each switching node within the ATM network. Further, it was required that a virtual path identifier/virtual circuit identifier pair for an ATM circuit (VPI/VCI) for each ATM cell be provided for each path at the time of attempted cross connect. As a result of the above, establishing cross-connections between ATM and TDM networks is usually a slow and resource-intensive process. It is desirable to reduce the amount of switching and delay in a network with multiple intermediate nodes.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method which provides a better and efficient mechanism for establishing a digital cross-connection between ATM networks and TDM networks, and which reduces the processing and time overhead associated with switching ATM and TDM traffic in the cross-connection.